Earlier last month, the popular media site known as YouTube added an entirely new distribution platform to its online repertoire. This new branch of YouTube was dubbed The Gamer Square.

As the name suggests, The Gamer Square is a website dedicated to all things video games.

The homepage reads, “Welcome to The Gamer Square! We are a gaming and YouTube community made by the gamers for the gamers.We provide up to date news on all things gaming, alongside a forum for you to chat to other gamers. We pride ourselves on helping our community by allowing people to promote their clan or YouTube channels within the forums.We also provide giveaways and competitions for you all to get involved in.”

The welcome banner then prompts the reader to sign up and become a part of the new platform if he or she has not already done so. Aesthetically speaking, it is a well-organized and easily navigable site. The main menu is placed just below the title and includes a ‘Home,’ a ‘Forums,’ a ‘Videos,’ a ‘Members’, an ‘Apparel,’ and a ‘Help’ tab.

Below these are a ‘Category List,’ an ‘Article List,’ and an ‘Editors Picks’ tab. The homepage also displays a section dedicated to recent gaming posts and a number of other interesting features.

Jordan Hanson, a computer science major and avid gamer, said in regards to YouTube’s recent descendant, “Gamer Square is going to face stiff competition from the Twitch market. Even though it has what I believe to be a better design overall, the question is will its features be good enough for Twitch fans to transfer over? It will be especially hard since YouTube has a bad reputation with its automatic copyright ID system. No one will want to post their Let’s Plays on a site that will stifle their profit.”

Michael Reynolds, a music education major, shared a similar sentiment when asked his opinion on the new medium of social gaming media. “It’s just unnecessary,” said Reynolds. “There are dozens of sites just like it. Sure the articles are clean and concise but the news and other articles are generic. The Gamer Square is basically YouTube trying to create their own IGN, and we definitely don’t need another one of those.”

Despite these somewhat harsh opinions, however, YouTube’s new platform The Gamer Square seems to be here to stay. So if you enjoy sharing your gaming experiences online, reading up on the latest gaming news, or winning virtual fame and glory, you might want to consider checking out this new site.